AN: This has some experimental style/content elements to it. We'll see how they work out.
((()))
Tabitha lay panting, strapped into the saddle, her eyes closed, but her attention not wavering in the slightest. Matilda was more than a little impressed by the younger woman's sheer bloody-minded determination, and hoped that she never had reason to fight the Gallian royal. Down one arm, the stump barely healed closed, the other in a sling, and pale from blood loss, and Charlotte de Orleans still managed a triangle-class Wind spell to hasten her familiar's flight.
The girl was only slightly less terrifying than the one-eyed cat staring at her from atop the Wind Dragon's head, as it exchanged words with the creature in a language Matilda had never heard before. Foquet had faced powerful mages before; Longueville had met Karin Valliere, the legendary Heavy Wind, and seen the woman's iron will first hand, and she was no slouch of a mage herself. Matilda had even dealt with some degree of Elven magic, though not in a threatening way; she had thought she understood quite well just what magic was and was not capable of.
The one-eyed familiar, apparently a shapeshifter rather than a cat, had proven her wrong. And one thing Foquet had learned very early in her career as a thief, was that the only thing more dangerous than a lack of information, was misinformation. And what she had thought she knew about the familiar had been proven wrong on essentially every conceivable level. It wasn't a cat, it wasn't crippled, and it wasn't helpless; the only thing her initial information had been correct about, was it being Louise Valliere's familiar.
And it had just finished talking to the Dragon, moving down the larger creature's swaying neck with a casual grace, one entirely appropriate to its feline form.
"I know of three names you have," Jaeger said as he approached her, "Which are you most comfortable being addressed by?"
Matilda tensed as she warily eyed the creature, thinking carefully before responding.
"Longueville will do for now," She said carefully as the cat seated itself beside Tabitha's quiet form, "What do you want of me?"
"To know where Wardes will be going," Jaeger said, "There are many paths he may take to Albion, but we both know that once he arrives thereabouts, Reconquista will seek its revenge upon your family."
"Why would he not stop at the Vallieres?" Longueville countered, "He could easily spin a tale for them, to turn them against us."
"He could try," Jaeger replied flatly, his single eye casting her a sarcastic look, something Longueville had never received from a cat before, "The Duke and Duchess would see right through his lies, and whoop his traitorous ass. He may be overconfident enough to think he can take on one of them, but I doubt he is fool enough to try to defeat both, much less their retainers and armsmen. He's aligned with Reconquista, and the only territory they actually control right now, is in Albion."
Longueville gave no response for some time; she wasn't entirely sure what to say.
"Wardes will probably be moving for my family's old lands, to punish those who remain for my refusal of him," She eventually said, "I don't know if he would have your mistress with him."
The cat's eye narrowed, and the rune on his forehead flared briefly; Longueville had the distinct impression that she'd barely avoided seeing him snarl.
"You think I am coming because I am the girl's familiar?" Jaeger demanded harshly, glaring up at Longueville.
"Why else would a Firstborn-" Longueville was cut off as the cat did snarl, its forelegs twitching as claws extended, then retracted.
"I am no 'Firstborn,' of this world," Jaeger snarled, leaning forward, teeth bared, "And it is more than a compulsion derived of an omnicidal megalomaniac's magic that drives and motivates my actions."
The cat veritably trembled with pent up emotion as it stalked a few steps closer to Foquet (who was instinctively grasping her wand), nearly standing on the woman.
"Tell me, Longueville," Jaeger growled, "What motivates your actions? Revenge? Care for your sister? Bitterness? Envy?"
Matilda said nothing, simply glaring at the cat in front of her, and considering her odds of surviving a point-blank engagement with the creature when over a thousand feet from the ground.
"Yes," Jaeger pressed on after several seconds of silence had passed, leaning further and further into Matilda's personal space as he spoke, "I can feel the runes she branded onto my skull tugging at my mind, urging me to save her, urging me to protect her when she is in distress, but you know what?"
"What?" Foquet snapped, trying to shove the cat back away from herself as she raised her wand.
"I would have gone to save her anyways," Jaeger growled as he swayed around Foquet's hand, something larger than his physical form resonating within his voice as he spoke, "Just like I will stand against Wardes and Reconquista to protect your sister and those she cares for."
"You're an idealist?" Foquet snarled, her voice wrought with bitter and jaded anger, "What kind of sheltered life have you lead?"
The moment that the cat's empty eye socket snapped open, Matilda knew that she'd crossed a line; the cat's form swelling, twisting, contorting, and morphing into that of a large, scarred man almost pushed her to cast a spell that would have meant bad things for all of them so high in the air.
"LOOK AT ME!" Jaeger roared, pointing first to his missing eye, then the scars across his chest, "DO I LOOK LIKE I'VE LIVED A SHELTERED LIFE?"
As a cat, Jaeger's fur looked patchy; as a human, the scars that had destroyed the consistency of his fur stood out as vivid trenches and lines across his body. Anger and pride warred with self-preservation in Foquet's mind as she studied his damaged body; practicality eventually won out, and she shook her head.
"I have not seen my home in six years," Jaeger growled, visibly restraining his anger, "You have a sister you care deeply about; I have three. I have been homeless, I have starved, I have fought, I have bled, I have nearly died more times than I can count, I have had my mind violated by those who consider themselves above 'petty' things like morality."
Jaeger stepped back out of Matilda's personal space, still balancing with damnable ease on the flying Dragon, before turning away and screaming into the sky.
"I HAVE NOT LIVED A SHELTERED LIFE!"
Tension slowly began to ease out of Longueville as she watched the man's scarred back heave with emotion; he was breathing so hard that it was audible even over Sylphid's wingbeats. Eventually, he turned to face her again, and though the anger had largely passed, there was still a furious intensity to his gaze that Matilda found unsettling.
"Just because life takes a shit on me," Jaeger said with precise, forceful enunciation, his single eye glowing with raw intensity, "Does not mean that I get to take a shit on someone else. True Love is sacrificial. True Love is unconditional. I only know a little of the kind of 'god' most people believe in in this land, but let me tell you something about the God that I follow."
Jaeger leaned into Matilda's personal space again, though this time it was not a threat he carried with him, but a sense of purpose, a clear intention to deliver a message to her.
"My God," Jaeger declared forcefully, "Showed His Love by dying, then rising again and living for us. He was executed like a common criminal, in spite of being innocent of any wrongdoing, because his moral teaching threatened those in power. Life took the biggest shit ever on Him, and He responded in Love.
"In the last six years, I have been ripped from my homeworld by a group of thugs intent on dominating and corrupting a city. I've fought Werewolves, undead, petty bigots, master wizards, genocidal racists, and maids who stop time to clean. I've been stabbed, shot, impaled, flayed, mind-ripped, put under compulsions, banished, and cursed to lose my power, my ability to think clearly, and even my very body."
Jaeger leaned back and sat down, placing himself just forward of Tabitha's prone form.
"But He had it worse, and yet He Loved even those who killed Him. I will never achieve as much as He did, will never be as perfect as He was and is, but having encountered the kind of Love He shows, I am driven to show it to others. At the Academy, that meant giving Louise someone to speak to, confide in, someone to cuddle with for comfort. Now, it means saving her from a traitor, saving your sister from the same, and if I have the strength, tearing down Reconquista as we go."
No more words passed between them during that leg of their journey, though Tabitha and Foquet both spent more than a little time staring at the changeling.
((()))
The trio of Dragon-borne humans reached the Valliere estates in less than a day; both Tabitha and her familiar effectively collapsed upon landing, leaving a 'secretary' and a cat to deal with the Duke and Duchess.
"Wardes a traitor, my daughter kidnapped in an attempt to derail the pending alliance with Germania, and the both of them heading towards Albion and the Reconquista," Karin summarized flatly, "Precisely why am I supposed to believe such a tale from a Zerbst? Do keep in mind that my husband and I selected Wardes to be our daughter's fiance. Why on earth would he kidnap his betrothed?"
"Because Reconquista wants a Void Mage," Jaeger said harshly, startling the ducal couple slightly, "Cromwell is backed by Gallia's Void Mage and Familiar right now, but he wants to control one of his own, so he will no longer be beholden to them. You know how much political capital your daughter represents."
"While that is likely," The Duke retorted, staring down at the one-eyed cat, "That is hardly reason to believe that Wardes has turned traitor."
Jaeger leapt to the ground from Longueville's shoulder, his body shifting as he moved, and by the time he reached the ground, a scarred man clad only in breeches had taken the cat's place, staring first the Duke, then the Duchess, in the eyes.
"I can offer only this," He said grimly, "Take your own measure of me, look me in the eye and see if I speak Truth or Lie, then make your decision. I will be going to Albion with or without your aid."
For a long minute, man and wife stared Jaeger in the eye, before exchanging a single, meaningful glance.
"Turn back into the cat," Karin snapped out, "We need to move swiftly, and every bit less weight astride my steed will aid our travel."
((()))
The second leg of the trip was particularly hard on Matilda; she was in fairly good shape, but riding in a saddle for more than a day straight was almost brutal. For Jaeger, it was little burden; a cat can sleep almost anywhere, and he did.
And in his sleep, he dreamed.
((()))
"John."
Nobody had called me by that name in months; when I turned to see who had done so, a visceral fear for my life struck me for the first time in years. It was not a human, nor an elf, nor any other sentient creature I had encountered before which spoke to me, but a being beyond anything I had encountered before, even the Prismatic Dragon. It took the form of what I vaguely recognized as a Celestial from D&D, but even in a dream (or perhaps because it was a dream I was within), I could sense that only a small portion of what it was protruded into realms I was capable of sensing.
I could also recognize, on an instinctive level, by Whom it had been sent, and awkwardly offered a respectful bow. Not one of subservience, because though we served the same Lord, this being was not my master.
"John, journeyman of worlds," The angel said, its voice deep, resonating within my very being, "The Lord your God has sent me with a message for you: 'Be strong and Courageous, do not be terrified. Though your foes may seem mighty, the Lord your God will be with you, and He will give you the strength to defeat your foes. Though the battle may seem bleak, do not flee, do not attempt to disengage, confront your enemy directly, do not yield, and fight until she flees before you! The Lord has carried you this far, and He will give you victory in this land as you have not yet had in any other."
I opened my mouth to ask a question, but the angel was already gone.
((()))
"Are you in love with Osmond?" Karin asked bluntly.
Matilda's jaw literally fell open with shock.
"You're a mage," Karin said, not bothering to turn back and face the younger woman seated behind her, "Earth, Line or better, but you willingly worked a position more appropriate to a literate commoner, and Osmond's womanizing tendencies are well known. I see little other reason for you to accept working as his secretary, especially since you apparently have no problem traveling to Germania. You could easily earn enough to buy yourself a title there. Simply swearing fealty directly to the Emperor might be enough for a mage of your skill to be landed."
"No!" Matilda half-shouted, "It was just that the job was easy to get because he's a damn letcher!"
"Then why?" Karin demanded.
"Why do you care?" Matilda asked defensively, "My personal life is hardly of import to the second-ranking noble in Tristain."
"It is important," Karin retorted sharply, "In the next few days, I will go into battle, and if you are to be at my side, I fully intend to know who you are, and why you are involved with this," Karin paused a moment, and turned in her saddle to look Longueville dead in the eye, "And do not try lying to me."
Silence stretched out between them after the Valliere's command; seconds, then minutes, nearly ten before Matilda finally decided what to say.
"I have a sister in Albion," She admitted reluctantly, "Germania is too far for me to be able to see her. How did you know I am a mage?"
"The first time you came to our estates, you played your role well," Karin replied, "When you arrived today, you were too tired to hide your stance, or the wand strapped to your left thigh. A sister in Albion isn't reason enough; you could move her to Germania almost as easily as you could travel there yourself. Why didn't you?"
"She's a half-sister," Matilda said grumpily, rubbing her tired eyes with a sigh, "If her heritage became known, she'd either be killed, or become a political pawn. And she runs an orphanage near Saxe-Gotha; I could have smuggled her away to somewhere safe, but she wouldn't leave without the children, and I can't hide thirty children from Albion in Germania. She's not very good at being discrete either."
"A royal bastard then?" Karin asked, turning in her saddle again to level an expectant gaze at Longueville.
"Yes," Matilda admitted reluctantly, "Reconquista is just making it all worse. If I had tried to move her once the rebellion was in full swing, we never would have gotten out without notice. They found out about her somehow anyways, and Wardes threatened to kill her if I didn't do what he wanted. Jaeger," Matilda nodded to the cat between them, "Thinks that Tiffa's orphanage is the best place to intercept Wardes, and take your daughter back from him."
"I see," Karin said, nodding slowly, and turning forward in her saddle again.
Silence passed for most of an hour, and Matilda thought that Duchess Valliere was satisfied with her answers; she would have slept if it was an option, but Karin's Manticore was much smaller than Tabitha's Dragon had been. The Duchess' next words, however, shocked her to full consciousness nigh-instantly.
"You are Matilda de Saschen-Gotha," Karin announced, turning to face Matilda again, "Daughter of the Archduke of Albion; you were thought killed with the rest of his family."
"How did you know that?" Matilda hissed, instinctively seizing her wand.
"My husband and I do our best to keep up with the politics of our neighbours," Karin said primly, ignoring Foquet's wand, "Your father's assassination was the scandal of the decade. We never did find out what spurred it, but I must admit to being impressed that you have successfully remained hidden for so long."
Matilda said nothing, simply glaring spite at Karin as her hand flexed spasmodically over her wand.
"There is more you have yet to tell me," Karin continued evenly, turning to face forward again, "You may as well be forthright with it, as I will doubtless know before this venture is through."
"Tiffania is my half-sister," Matilda ground out, anger and bitterness making her impetuous with her words, "And she is also half-elf. This is why our father was murdered."
Karin had no ready response to that, and the rest of their journey passed in silence.
((()))
Karin's familiar carried us to La Rochelle; it was apparently used to long flights, as it was fatigued rather than exhausted by the trip. I have rarely, if ever seen a woman project so much raw intimidation with her mere presence, and the Duchess Valliere put it to good use commandeering an airship to take us up to Albion. The ship wasn't as fast as simply flying would have been, even with the sheer amount of vertical gain involved.
It was a soldier's move though; it took ten hours to reach Albion aboard ship, more than long enough for all of us, including Karin's familiar, to be well-rested by the time we arrived there, and mount back up for the final leg of the journey. I dearly would have preferred teleportation, or shapechanging into something with absurd speed, but given the limitations we were under, we made impressive time. Two days from Valdeboda to Saxe-Gotha.
((()))
"This is almost anti-climactic," Jaeger said a bit whimsically as they approached a very small clearing, the closest landing point to Tiffania's orphanage in the dense forest, "We actually beat Wardes here."
"Don't sound so disappointed," Karin snapped as they touched down, "A defensive position in rough terrain is in all way superior to attacking into an unknown fortification. Matilda, do you have any experience in shaping breastworks and traps?"
"Yes," Matilda said flatly as she dismounted, "But I must speak with Tiffania before we do anything else. She's terrified of strangers."
((()))
In the end, we had roughly eighteen hours between our arrival, and Reconquista reaching the orphanage. There was some sort of tension I didn't understand between Karin and Matilda, though given the Duchess' lack of surprise at Tiffania's half-elven nature, it was likely related to her somehow. Said tension didn't keep Karin from running Matilda nearly into the ground, fortifying the area around the Orphanage, and augmenting the earthen traps with some rather vicious elements of her own.
I doubted the Reconquista would expect an Earth and Wind mage team to use poisoned traps. Even Water Mages rarely bothered with such things, and I had heard literally not a single mention of any other element of magii attempting it.
It turned out to be a wise move on Karin's part, as when Reconquista did arrive, they brought five hundred men with them, to search the forest. Apparently, Wardes had implied they knew more about Tiffania's location than they actually did.
Unfortunately for Reconquista, a forest was nigh-ideal hunting grounds for myself.
((()))
A team of ten soldiers, led by a dot Wind mage, were holding position as the extreme end of one of the search 'arms' combing the forest. That they were at the end of that arm was the only reason they had a mage amongst their number, even just a dot; the civil war had hit the nobility harder than war usually did, as it was ultimately a power struggle between the nobility and the royalty, and combat-capable mages were in short supply.
The flanking squad had been more than happy to hear they were being assigned a mage to strengthen their position; they were more than sad when a small, shadowed shape dropped out of the trees overhead and decapitated the Earth mage.
"Now would be the time you start running," A furious voice snarled as a wreath of flames wrapped itself around a one-eyed cat.
The soldiers did as they were told; half of them even survived to reach the next squadron in..
((()))
"Where in blazes has that cat gone?" Karin asked, her voice leaking tightly-leashed anger, "I've need of a scout."
"He's not a scout," Matilda replied sharply, "Did we never tell you of the full extent of his abilities with fire?"
Karin shook her head; Matilda told her.
((()))
One of the five archers in the squad of fifteen loosed an arrow at the flicker of movement he saw deeper in the forest, then flinched as a burst of flame erupted from where the arrow struck. A whirlwind of heat, screams, and hot blood washed across his back an instant later, and the man dove forward. Rolling to his feet, he turned and rose just in time to see a flame-wreathed cat finish butchering the rest of his team.
"Run," The one-eyed creature hissed at him; the archer obeyed.
((()))
"Report," Wardes ordered as a commoner Lieutenant half-dragged a trembling bowman into his presence.
"M-my Lord," The archer replied, "A c-creature of flame and shadow in the form of a cat, it cut down my entire squad, leaving only myself alive."
"How did you survive?" Wardes demanded.
"I-I don't-" The Archer cut himself off and abruptly stilled, panic washing away to be replaced by sudden realization, "It deliberately chose to allow me to survive and return, sir," The man said, his voice still weak, but steady, "I believe it is trying to demoralize the men."
Wardes swore.
((()))
Karin swore, cursing her lack of meaningful battlefield intelligence. The forest was dense, the canopy was even denser, and if she took to the skies, she'd simply mark herself (and wherever she'd taken flight from) as a target. Matilda had some limited potential as a scouting asset, moving through the earth via her magic, but that would leave Karin as the only primary combatant serving at the fortified orphanage, and that was more dangerous than not knowing when the enemy would arrive.
Her thoughts were cut off by a black cat almost materializing out of the shadows in front of her.
"Roughly four hundred and fifty Reconquista soldiers, including at least a dozen dot and Line mages, are moving up through the forest," Jaeger reported, "I've cut up their flanks, killing six mages and forty soldiers. I'm fairly certain Wardes is present."
"Is he in command of this assault?" Karin demanded.
"I don't know," Jaeger said, shaking his head, "Do you want me to find out?"
Karin nodded, opening her mouth to speak, but Jaeger was already gone again.
((()))
Drawing out someone like Wardes was easy; the man had an ego, and all I needed to do was poke it. Given that the enemy lines had grouped up a fair bit in response to my raids along their flanks, the 'big boom' strategy would be fairly effective, though if their commander was at all competent, they would disperse again, and the one shot would be the best I'd get.
I was more than alright with that; I'd prefer to keep the casualty count as low as I reasonably could.
((()))
A streak of fire sliced through the Reconquista command group; Wardes, swift beyond merely human capability, lunged to the side, evading the bolt of flaming cat. Leaping back to his feet, he swore as he spat out a mouthful of dirt, but the feline was already gone.
Two of his men had died in the attack as well.
((()))
"Wardes is in command," Jaeger growled, "And he's too damn fast for me to hit while my curse remains."
"I can deal with Wardes," Karin said flatly, "He is a powerful Wind Mage, but there is a reason I have a reputation through Halkeginia, and he does not. Can you and Matilda deal with the rest of the army?"
"Easily," Jaeger said, flicking his tail before dashing off to where Matilda was speaking with her half-sister.
((()))
"But why are they coming here?" The tall, generously proportioned blonde asked her green-haired elder sibling.
"Why doesn't matter so much as the fact that they are," Longueville said, her voice taut with strained patience, "And they'll either kill or kidnap everyone he-"
"It's time to fight," Jaeger cut in, startling both of them with his sudden appearance almost on top of them, slinking out of the shadows along the wall of Tiffania's forest refuge, "Tiffania, you should take the children inside. Matilda, I'll be going on the offense, and would request that you play close defense to 'catch' any who slip past me. Karin will be sallying to deal with Wardes and his guard."
"Wardes is here?" Matilda asked sharply, "Are there any other high-rank mages present?"
"Not that I'm aware of," Jaeger said with a shrug, "I can handle anything less than Triangle easily, and most triangles I should be able to handle as well. You've seen what I can do."
"I have," Matilda said, nodding grimly as she drew her wand, "Keep them away from my sister, cat."
"I'll do what I can."
((()))
No forest is ever wholly silent, though some come close from time to time. The forest outside of Saxe-Gotha was not particularly silent that evening; a small army marching through it drove the wildlife into hiding, but did more than enough to make up for the lack of sound from the natives.
A compact but intense tornado erupted from a particularly dense stand of trees, shredding leaves, branches, and trunks with raw force, then abrading everything that fell within it due to particulate matter caught inside. Lightning flashed across the copse, once, twice, three times, and the stand of trees rapidly became a clearing. A gout of fire erupted amongst the clash of spells for a moment, but was extinguished as quickly as it had come.
Harsh orders were shouted around the edges of the spell battle, and the sound of humans rapidly retreating from the point of clash was heard throughout the surrounding wood.
A cataclysmic blast of fire more than a hundred feet across erupted on one flank of the battle, gutting the Reconquista forces retreating in that direction. Thirty seconds later, a second blast erupted on the opposite flank, paring down those that remained even further. The commoner infantry broke and ran; what mages survived concealed their wands within their robes, and attempted to blend in with their subordinates. It had not escaped the nobles' notice that they were being targeted both as a matter of priority, and only their leader had yet to survive the Hellcat's attentions.
A leader who was locked in a duel with a living legend.
Then another figure, a legend twice over, stepped onto the battlefield, though none of Reconquista's soldiers recognized her for what she was.
Jaeger did.
((()))
Something 'pinged' Jaeger's senses, and he Moved, but for the first time in a long, long time, he didn't move fast enough; a gloved fist seized him by the scruff of his neck, and hoisted him off of his paws. Jaeger reacted by shifting to human form, breaking free primarily via merit of no longer having fur for his assailant to grip, leaping forward and twisting as soon as his human feet struck the ground.
Again, he did not move fast enough, as his foe, clad in a hooded cloak that concealed nearly all except her gender, seized him again, this time by the throat. Jaeger thrashed against his grip, breaking free with considerable difficulty, before stepping back in a defensive stance, eying the woman warily.
"You're not one of Reconquista's thugs," He said evenly, "What are you doing here?"
"My master has an interest in the Myoztherin," The woman said, hefting the dagger in her left hand as she spoke, "I have been ordered to bring you to him. Considering my abilities, and your lack of artifacts to empower you, I would suggest coming peacably. It will make things easier for both of us."
"What of Matilda and her sister?" Jaeger demanded, slowly lowering his stance and tensing as he did so.
"Foquet was told what the price would be if she disobeyed us," She replied with a shrug, "It is no concern of yours, either way."
Though the battle may seem bleak, do not flee, do not attempt to disengage, confront your enemy directly, do not yield, and fight until she flees before you, Jaeger silently recalled to himself, curling his lips back to bare his teeth, before once again setting the world awash in flame.
((()))
Tiffania winced as another thunderous detonation rocked the forest, instinctively reaching out to clasp her sister's hand.
"Are you sure that's the cat?" The half-elf asked fearfully.
"Quite," Matilda replied, struggling to be comforting rather than terse as she waited for any last 'stragglers' to stumble upon the barricaded orphanage, "I've seen him use that spell myself. It half-destroyed one of my golems."
Tiffania's eyes widened in concern, and Matilda winced as she realized she'd let too much slip, and set herself up for an interrogation she did not want. Her sister was almost impossible to dissuade once she had determined that something needed doing.
((()))
Inferno Blast wounded her, but not fully; unsurprisingly for someone faster and stronger than me, she was also resistant to fire. The nasty part, was that she was regenerating from the damage faster than I could dish it out.
On the upside, though she combined spellcasting with the raw physical power and speed, she didn't seem to be much of a tactician, and was trying to take me alive. Time to see if I could catch her Flatfooted.
((()))
"You held out on me," Wardes spat, blood mixing with saliva as he tried to clear his throat and breathe.
"Hardly," Karin said with a dismissive snort, "I taught you as much as was viable in what time I had to train you. It is not my fault that you were too busy pursuing treason to properly attend your training. Even had you been, I doubt you could have caught up with me, regardless of what I have lost to age."
"Bitch," Wardes wheezed, the fingers of his crushed right hand twitching for the smashed sword-wand that lay beneath Karin's boot.
"Traitor," Karin returned evenly, before kicking the prone man in the side of the head, rendering him unconscious, "You are both cursed and blessed that I'll be taking you to Mary-Anne for justice, rather than simply executing you myself."
((()))
"This is tiresome," The woman said, irritation plain in her voice as she dashed back across one of the craters Jaeger had already burned into the forest floor, "It is readily apparent that you have no chance of defeating me; why do you persist in dragging this out?"
Jaeger said nothing in response, instead launching himself at her in blaze of aggravated flames again; she dodged his blitz, and gave two slashes across his side with her knife for his trouble. The blade cut deep, leaving a pair of long, bloody gashes through the muscle on his left flank; Jaeger responded by teleporting to the opposite side of his foe in a flicker of flame, slamming his fist into her back as he did so.
It was the third time he'd been able to lay a direct blow on her the entire fight; magically-hardened flesh didn't give in the slightest.
"That almost hurt," She said sarcastically as she spun in place and slashed out with her knife again, but Jaeger had already disappeared in a flicker of shadow; her blow caught nothing but air.
"Interesting move," She continued, turning her dagger upward and catching him with it as he dropped down on top of her; this time he was unable to evade, "But I've fought Wind mages before, even if your teleportation is a little different."
She struck him with the hilt of the knife, rather than the blade, mindful of bleeding him too much, and he grunted as the blow took him in the solar plexus, but ignored the pain and moved into a blistering flurry of punches and kicks, intense flames flowing around his fists and feet as he did so. She danced around his blows, moving with a speed and grace that made his skillful offensive seem simplistic and utilitarian by comparison.
"Why?" She asked, frustration mixing with curiosity in her voice as she skipped back away from him, "We've been at this for minutes, you have to know you cannot beat me with nothing more than your odd fire magic. You're skilled for a mortal, but my familiar powers trump yours in melee, and I'm clearly the more powerful spellcaster as well."
Jaeger triggered Inferno Blast again, washing the area in fire, though his foe had already retreated from the primary blast radius.
((()))
Emerald Razor to get her flat-footed, allowing me to pierce her Mage Armor, Shield , and catch her sufficiently unawares that she did not simply dodge.
But if it even did deal damage, she was still healing it.
Worse, she had clued in to my refresh cycle with Inferno Blast, and was fast enough to stay out of range of it; time to attempt an approach both less direct and more blunt.
((()))
"They're making a terrible mess," Tiffania said worriedly, wincing as another series of crashes sounded through the forest, "Why are they knocking down so many trees?"
"I have no idea," Matilda said with a shrug.
((()))
"You know," She growled, diving out of the way of another falling tree trunk, "I'm trying to establish a cordial working relationship here. You're coming with me whether you like it or not, but I'd like to have someone intelligent to speak with while riding herd on Cromwell and his buffoons. You're making that very difficult."
She lunged forward and attempted to seize him by the throat again, but he was able to overpower the one hand with the both of his. He attempted to seize her dagger while she was in close, but he was far from fast enough, and she simply danced back out of reach.
"You could at least show me the courtesy of speaking with me," She growled, before lunging back in to club him in the face with the hilt of her dagger, catching him off guard and finally succeeding at knocking him to the ground.
"You came here," Jaeger groaned out, his words wet with blood from his freshly-broken nose, "To kidnap or kill an innocent young woman and a bunch of children, because someone refused to kidnap and plan a political coup for you."
He looked up to glare at the woman, but the effect was somewhat ruined by his right eye twisting off to the side and refusing to focus.
"Our 'working relationship,'" Jaeger said flatly, "Will begin and end with blood. Mine that you have shed here, and most likely your masters that will be shed either by me, or another of my Lord's servants. Hand Louise over, and I'll argue for Joseph to be imprisoned rather than summarily executed, though I doubt Karin will allow such forgiveness."
"You have no right to judge my master," The woman hissed, planting a foot on his chest and snarling as his words touched a nerve, "No Familiar has the right to judge a King."
"You think I mean Louise when I speak of my Master?" Jaeger said, disbelief edging into his voice, "I'm referring to God. Do you-"
He was cut off by a shriek of incoherent rage, the woman's face purpling as she lunged at him again.
((()))
Treefall was a no-go; making her lose her temper, on the other hand, seemed to work pretty well. Hopefully, it would give me an opening to get that dagger out of her hand, and figure out why she was so insistent on trying to grapple one handed to keep it.
Also, pain.
((()))
"You bastard!" She screamed, all restraint and attempts to capture alive gone as she lashed out, drawing a deep bloody gash across Jaeger's chest, "No-one has the right to judge Joseph! Nobody! And especially no 'god' of this sick, twisted world!"
She stabbed at him again, and this time, he moved into the blow, deliberately letting her sink the blade into his right abdomen, seizing her wrist as he did so, and forcing her grip on the weapon to break.
The instant the dagger left her hand, everything about her somehow became less. It was most immediately obvious in how she was unable to immediately break Jaeger's grip on her, less immediately so in how she had lost an edge of grace, of speed, to her movements.
"I'm going to look forward to finding out what's in this dagger," Jaeger ground out through clenched teeth as his foe finally tore herself free from his grasp, "It's certainly potent."
"Idiot," His foe spat, sweeping back her hood to reveal pointed, elven ears, "It's not the dagger, it's that I'm the bloody Gandalfr."
Then she drew a sword from within her cloak, wielding it with both hands, and her strength, grace, and speed returned.
"You should have struck while I was unarmed," She snarled, before hurling herself onto the offensive again.
((()))
Shit.
A potential means to defeat her shown, but she's not playing with me any more. I can't see a way out of this.
This is why I received the message in the dream; if I hadn't been commanded otherwise, this is where I would have retreated. As it is, there's only two things left to do:
Pray, and Attack.
((()))
Sheffield was more than a little surprised when Jaeger attacked directly into her thrust, but it mattered little to her; with the dagger in hand, she'd been beyond him, with the sword, which was a powerful magical artifact, she was functionally untouchable.
Not that he didn't try damn hard to lay a blow on her nonetheless; his attack cost him another stab-wound to the abdomen, this one far larger, and bad enough that a hint of intestine was dragged out of the wound when the blade withdrew. His flaming fist smashed into the magical barriers wrapped around the Gandalfr, to no greater effect than any of his previous attempts, and Sheffiled sneered at him.
Sheffield's retaliatory backhand smashed Jaeger down into the ground again, snapping his jaw and sending several teeth flying; Jaeger allowed the blow to drive him into a roll, gaining a few feet of separation before killing the rest of the imparted momentum in rolling to his feet.
((()))
I was fairly certain at this point that my wounds were mortal. I knew Tiffania was a healer of considerable ability, and should have enough magic-juice left to restore me from pretty much any amount of damage, but with the second get-myself-stabbed gambit failing, it was pretty clear that my chances of surviving the battle to make it to her were pretty much nil.
Somehow, I was supposed to defeat Sheffield though.
I couldn't see it. I saw no way to overcome the gap in abilities between us.
I had a Divine Imperative though, so I was damn well going to act on it; I couldn't see how to stop her, but she needed to be stopped, and I had a Command to do it here and now.
Maybe I'd wear her out enough for Karin to take down.
I attacked again.
((()))
"Are you suicidal?" Sheffield screeched as Jaeger lunged at her again, blood trailing from his abdomen and broken jaw, sizzling into vapor as soon as it left contact with his body and was boiled or burned away by the flames wrapped around his body, "Or do you just not understand that You cannot win?"
Fed up with his intransigience, she smoothly sidestepped his latest jab, bringing her blade down ans severing the attacking arm just below the elbow as she did so, following the blow up with a kick that knocked him to the ground again. The kick cracked something in Jaeger's chest, but he spun with the blow, dropping into an attempt at a leg sweep, before initiating his Searing Charge maneuver at point blank rang; his remaining fist reaching for her face.
An immaterial pane of force stopped the blow dead, and the rest of Jaeger's body smashed into it an instant thereafter. Blood, moving too slowly to trigger the magical defense, spattered on Sheffield's face as the shapeshifter snarled at her through his broken jaw, bones visibly grinding against each other beneath his glowing eyes.
"Fine," Sheffield growled, "Die then."
And then she stabbed him in the chest, and spoke a single command.
"Derflinger, drink."
((()))
Miles away, laying on a rather luxurious bed, Louise's eyes snapped open as a rush of power suddenly flowed through her, and she turned to face Northwest.
"Jaeger," She breathed, "You came."
((()))
It started neither quickly nor slowly, it simply WAS. I could feel it, sucking away at me like a siphon, and from the sheer force of the draw, I would have worried it would do me ill, if not for one factor.
The force was pulling on a malfeasance that had latched on to me, rather than pulling on me directly. More, it was strong enough to begin tearing the malfeasance loose, in spite of my own inability to force the thing away.
My sense of time was distorted, almost nonexistant; I could not tell you how long it took the force to tear the entirety of the thing away, but tear it did, until the wholeness of it was gone, taking only loose bits of my own power with it.
Then, I was Free.
((()))
Sheffield, familiar of Joseph, King of Gallia, and the Void Familiar Gandalfr, first realized that something was wrong when Jaeger's eyes snapped open and he kicked up into her arm, freeing Deflinger's blade from his flesh.
Then he began to laugh, and Sheffield knew that somewhere, some way, she had miscalculated horribly.
"I owe you thanks, Sheffield, Elven familiar of Gallia," Jaeger said, voice distorted by his broken jaw as he flipped up to his feet, his movements smooth and graceful, wounds in his flesh visibly closing as she watched, "If not-" He broke off for a moment to deflect a blow from Derflinger with his bare hand, something he had not been capable of just a minute before, "For a word of warning from my Lord, and your use of that weapon, I would still be under a three-fold curse."
He paused for a moment and grinned, baring teeth in a jaw that was visibly shifting back into its proper shape as a manic light shone from his eyes.
"Now let's try this again," Jaeger continued, "With a few revisions. First, Temporal Acceleration."
So saying, he snapped his fingers, and began to move.
((()))
Buffs. All of the buffs. Being a Swiftblade, Haste to start with (also granting me 50% chance of evading any non area-of-effect attack, and complete immunity to being tied down, and extra actions), followed by Augmented Inertial Armor and Force Screen from my Psionic Powers. After that, Heart Of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire, for redundant Critical Immunity, speed, Damage Reduction, and Fire Resistance boosts.
Then I noticed that my 'HUD' was indicating that I had levels available to play with; eeeexcellent.
((()))
Louise shivered as she felt her body change. Where she had been growing at a very swift pace over the last few weeks, it had still been within human norms, if only barely. The growth within her body now was at a pace that could only be described as supernatural, and it hurt.
It hurt a great deal, primarily in her bones, and particularly in her skull. There was a crawling sensation under her skin, her scalp prickled, her eyes burned, all of these sensations were noted, but largely ignored beside the burning pain throughout her skeletal structure. Mercifully, after what she guessed to have been only a few minutes, the pain began to taper off; it took altogether too long, but eventually she was plagued only by a deep ache, rather than acute agony.
As the pain receded, Louise forced her attention to the world around herself, and found that she was in a very soft bed, one suitably ornate to fit her exalted social status, though she had only hazy memories of arriving at it. The panicked servant standing beside the bed, she neither recognized, nor had any memory of having arrived.
"What are you so worked up about, maid?" Louise asked, her voice hoarse from both disuse and the strain she had just experienced.
"You've been screaming and thrashing milady!" The woman said, the panic in her voice just as clear as her Albion accent, "I sent the guard for a healer, b-but he should have been back by now, and-"
"Calm down," Louise ordered sternly, speaking in the voice she had been taught to use with serving staff; firm, unyielding, but not harsh, "I am in some pain, but it is fading, and I do not appear to be mortally injured. Now where am I?"
"Broadley-on-Cleefs in Albion, milady," The maid said, her mood diminishing from 'panicked' to 'frantic, "Lord Wardes brought you-"
"Wardes," Louise snarled, hissing as memory suddenly returned to her, bright and clear.
((()))
"Tell me, Sheffield," Jaeger asked cordially, kicking his severed right forearm up to rejoin with its stump while deflecting Derflinger with his hand, "What is the most powerful foe you have ever faced?"
Sheffield said nothing in respond, instead simply pressing her assault. For nearly a full ten seconds, Jaeger watched her with an expression of patient expectation, giving his arm time to finish reattaching itself, then flexing it carefully to make sure it was functioning properly again.
"Well," Jaeger continued once he'd given her a more than polite amount of time to respond (with something other than her sword), "Let me tell you about a few of the enemies I've fought, m'kay?"
He twisted around Sheffield's latest thrust, then backhanded her across the face, the blow slipping between her magical shields to rattle her jaw and split her lips.
"We'll start with the demigod who had nine lives, and go from there..."
((()))
"Please return to your room, lady Valliere," The Count of Broadley-on-Cleefs said somewhat hesitantly as he stared at the Tristainian noble, who was substantially larger than she had been when she arrived the night before, "Count Wardes requested we keep your presence a secret until after the wedding-"
"There will be no wedding," Louise snarled, seizing the Count by his shoulders, "Where is that traitor Wardes?"
"Traitor?" The Count gasped, suddenly realizing that despite how things may have seemed the night before, the enraged noblewoman in front of him was not sympathetic to the Reconquista's cause, "Guards!"
((()))
"I do not believe that you have faced a demigod," Sheffield said flatly, fading back from a flurry of blows that Jaeger made seem lazy, at least to one who could perceive the speed at which his fists were moving, "Firstborns are trouble enough by themselves, gods are beyond the ability of man or elf to contest."
"Really," Jaeger said with a grin, before stepping out of Foquet's reach just long enough to...
Sheffield blinked.
Jaeger had just turned into a Dragon?
"Illusions won't do you-" She started, but then she was talking to four Jaegers, each of them in the form of a large gold-scaled Dragon, Then a set of four enormous Tigers, made of some substance that Sheffield was not familiar with, and covered with spikes, joined them.
"Who said anything about illusions?" Jaeger said with a smirk.
((()))
The guardsman's sword went 'thump' as it struck Louise's forearm. A forearm which gave no sign of bleeding, much less being broken or severed as appropriate to such a blow from a longsword swung by a trained soldier weighing more than two hundred pounds. Louise realized that she was actually just as tall as the guard, and that he had just tried to cut her with a sword.
aaaa
She punched him in the face, and broke his nose.
((()))
"Frankly," Jaeger, just one of him now, though still in the form of a powerfully-built Gold Dragon, "I'm impressed you were able to tank that. You're a tough woman, even if you're crazy."
Sheffield said nothing, just glaring up at the Dragon as she waited for her wounds to close.
"Be warned," Jaeger said harshly, "I am far from exerting the full breadth of my offensive capabilities. Do you really want to push me further by refusing to speak with me?"
"How are you so powerful?" Sheffield demanded after a moment's hesitation, "The Myoztherin is not supposed to have such abilities as you do."
"Simple," Jaeger replied, "Much as you were a spellcaster before you became Gandalfr, I was a powerful warrior before Louise ever summoned me to Halkeginia. If Joseph could summon an already-potent Familiar, why would not the other Void Mages?"
"Because none of them are my Joseph," Sheffield snarled, and Jaeger frowned sadly.
"He is, if anything, even less fit a leader than-"
Sheffield cut him off with another lunging thrust; Jaeger parried easily, and then cast his last spell of the battle.
"Disjunction."
Abjuration magic in its most powerful form was unleashed, instantly obliterating every magical effect upon Sheffield's person, even rendering her Gandalfr runes quiescent temporarily. Only Derflinger's magic was potent enough to weather the magic unchanged, something Jaeger did not miss, as he tore it from her grip immediately thereafter.
Then Sheffield disappeared in a flash of teleportation magic.
"...I did not see that coming," Jaeger admitted, before turning to face southward himself, "But it's a fairly good idea."
Then he disappeared as well.
((()))
A crack of displaced air accompanied by a change in the lighting caused everyone in the large foyer of the castle Broadly-On-Cleefs to freeze in place. Six armsmen were in the process of attempting to subdue Louise; two had broken noses, one a crushed hand, and the shards of several broken bladed weapons littered the stone floor around them.
A huge Gold Dragon appearing directly above them, glimmering scales reflecting the torchlight down onto them even as its shadow stretched across them all, did a more than adequate job of changing their immediate priorities.
"Excuse me," Jaeger ground out in a deep voice sized appropriately to his current form, "But this young lady happens to be under my protection. Release her now, or things will get messy in here."
The guards hesitated; Louise did not, slamming her right elbow back into the neck of one of the guards holding her, and tearing herself free from the grip of the other two who had their hands upon her.
"Jaeger!" She shouted, "Burn these ruffians!"
Jaeger reached down with one massive clawed appendage and gently lifted her up in front of his face, briefly inspecting her for injury. He found no real injury, but he did notice the slash marks in her gown, marks sized appropriately to the shattered weapons on the foyer's stone floor.
"Today," Jaeger growled as he glared down at the offending soldiers with one baleful eye, "I grant you all a stay of execution, for no other reason than that I serve a merciful God. Know this though, my mind and memory have been restored, and I will recognize each and everyone of you should I find you assailing a maiden again, one who does not have legendary magics protecting her."
Then he seated Louise upon his back, and disappeared again.
((()))
When Karin found the shattered remnants of Jaeger and Sheffield's battlefield, she was uncertain who had actually won the fight. Hundreds of yards of forest had been blasted clear of trees, large swathes of the ground had been melted into glass, and spotfires were everywhere. Blood was not hard to find about the battlefield either; but she had no idea whose blood it was.
A one-eyed golden Dragon appearing in midair above the battlefield, her daughter riding astride it, made the battle's victor apparent quite readily.
"Daughter!" She called immediately, "Are you well?"
The Dragon turned, and swooped downward to land beside her, causing the ground to tremble slightly. The instant it had touched down, its form shifted, twisted, and shrank, seconds later leaving the human form her daughter's Familiar had taken in front of her before, gently holding Louise in a bridal carry; up close, Karin could see that the only blood on her daughter's (substantially larger and subtly different) form was on her knuckles, smeared there in a pattern the Heavy Wind recognized well as meaning it belonged to her enemies.
"You came," Louise whispered, her voice fraught with emotion, as she looked back and forth between her one-eyed Familiar and her mother, "I knew you'd come."
Then, for the first time since she'd been nine years old, Louise Valliere began to cry in front of her mother.
((()))
AN: This is one of very, very, very few pieces where I did repeated re-writes of scenes to try to get what I wanted out of it. This has been frustrating to write. I apologize for any particularly notable errors that slipped through anyways, I definitely hit 'It's time to just post the damn thing' mode in the end here.